Cranberries are one of my favorite fruits for baking, because they hold their shape perfectly, are easy to handle, and have an intense flavor that’s an excellent finish for meals with the deeper flavors we cook with in the fall and winter.

This coffee cake recipe is super-easy (even if you’re not at all a baker). Pairing the cranberries with walnuts, orange zest, and cinnamon brings out their fall flavor. If you decide to substitute dark chocolate chips for the walnuts, take out the cinnamon.

Cranberry Walnut Cake

Preheat the oven to 300 degrees F (150 degrees C).

2 eggs
1 cup white sugar
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup vegetable or canola oil
3 cups fresh cranberries
1 cup chopped walnuts (or dark chocolate chips)
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 tablespoon minced orange zest*

Mix all the ingredients together in the order they’re listed in. You’ll have a thick batter. Spread it all along the bottom of a 9 by 13 pan (no need to grease the pan). Bake for one hour, then allow the cake to cool for at least 10 minutes before you cut into it.

* If you’ve never made orange zest before, take an orange and rinse off the outside. Then use a zester or the teeny tiny fine side of a box grater and rub off just the orange part of the peel. The orange part of the peel, the zest, has a bright flavor that is kind of “super-orange” without the sourness of the orange fruit. Don’t get the white pith, which is bitter. Once you’ve got the shards of zest, chop them up superfine with a knife.

(c) Magda Pecsenye 2005-2011